Withdean was packed to the rafters and fans celebrated wildly after a vital closing victory against Stockport last Saturday.

It was just as we all dreamt it might be when Albion launched the season in style in sunny Cheshire back in August.

Except the manager was Russell Slade, not Micky Adams, and supporters revelled in staying up, not going up.

An uplifting finale it may have been but 2008-2009 will be remembered in years to come as a campaign of considerable under-achievement.

It will be remembered even more as a campaign when a hero of the club gave more credibility to the theory that returning to the scene of triumphs is to tempt fate.

Adams, the manager responsible for the launch of Albion’s renascence at the turn of the century, lasted only nine months this time, and three of those were before a ball had been kicked.

Crippled by under-performing players and key injuries, pre-occupied by a club very different to the one he had left, Adams was handicapped by the overwhelming burden of expectation from both the Boardroom and a generation of fans unfamiliar with his past achievements.

Inheriting a team which had finished seventh under Dean Wilkins meant anything less than a play-off place would be regarded as failure.

The sadness of Wilkins’ departure was that Albion lost not a manager but a gifted coach.

Wilkins was not cut out for management. A view held by many – not all – within the club was that seventh place had been achieved last season in spite of him, not because of him.

When he predictably – and understandably – turned down the club’s offer to remain as coach under Adams, the players lost his expertise on the training ground.

This applied, in particular, to the young players he had mentored and who formed the core of his squad.

They, as a group, had been over-hyped. Adams decided more experience and know-how was needed.

His first spate of signings, all with a Championship pedigree, looked good on paper but flattered to deceive.

An opening 2-1 victory at Crewe, more impressive than the scoreline indicated, inspired false optimism.

If only we knew then what we know now – that Crewe were destined for the drop and more crosses were delivered into their box that afternoon than for much of the rest of the season.

A flattering victory at ten-man Southend towards the end of August briefly elevated Albion to the top of the table, further fuelling expectation.

Then, as results deteriorated, confidence drained and the dream of promotion evaporated, niggling frustrations behind the scenes began to gnaw away at Adams.

A particular bone of contention was his relationship – or rather lack of one – with chief scout Barry Lloyd.

They had very different ideas about the type of players required and Adams was bemused that Lloyd – the eyes and ears of major investor Tony Bloom – was not directly under his control.

Adams was not used to this. In the old days he had only Dick Knight to deal with. Now he found a club where the chairman’s power was no longer absolute.

Others on the Board, while not disputing the wisdom of Adams’ re-appointment, did not share Knight’s patience and unswerving faith.

A flurry of loan signings mid-season, spearheaded by Robbie Savage, did not improve matters. In most cases, with the exception of Bradley Johnson, they made little impact and Albion simply got them fit before they returned to their parent clubs.

The much-derided Johnstone’s Paint Trophy offered salvation of sorts but when Luton, via a penalty shoot-out, denied the Seagulls a moneyspinning trip to Wembley in February, Adams ran out of Boardroom allies. Knight tried, in vain, to swim against the tide demanding his head.

Once the true scale of the pressure the chairman was under became clear to Adams, he left by mutual consent.

His future should have been clarified long before then. Why was he allowed to spend during the January transfer window when such reservations existed?

The issue was fudged. A decision should have been made in December, either to remove him or keep the faith at the very least for the rest of the season.

Once he had gone, Albion got lucky. Jim Gannon turned them down, Russell Slade was appointed and a disastrous drop to League Two was averted by the new hero with five wins in the last seven games.

I am not doubting the managerial credentials of Gannon. It is just difficult to imagine he could have matched, yet alone bettered, what Slade achieved in the space of eight weeks.

He will hopefully get a lot longer than that to guide Albion towards the Championship contention they crave ahead of the move to Falmer.